Description of Securities

EX-4.5 2 d288581dex45.htm EX-4.5 EX-4.5

Exhibit 4.5

DESCRIPTION OF SECURITIES

Pursuant to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, our authorized capital stock consists of 280,000,000 shares of Class A common stock, $0.00001 par value per share, 20,000,000 shares of Class B common stock, $0.00001 par value per share and 1,000,000 shares of undesignated preferred stock, $0.00001 par value per share. The following description summarizes the material terms of our capital stock. Because it is only a summary, it may not contain all the information that is important to you.

SCALE units

Each SCALE unit sold in our initial public offering at a price of $10.00 consists of one share of Class A common stock and one-fifth of one redeemable warrant. Each whole warrant entitles the holder thereof to purchase one share of our Class A common stock at a price of $11.50 per share, subject to adjustment as described in our final prospectus filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 2, 2021 (the “IPO Prospectus”). Pursuant to the warrant agreement, a warrant holder may exercise its warrants only for a whole number of shares of Class A common stock. This means that only a whole warrant may be exercised at any given time by a warrant holder. No fractional warrants will be issued upon separation of the SCALE units and only whole warrants will trade. Accordingly, unless you purchase at least five SCALE units, you will not be able to receive or trade a whole warrant.

The Class A common stock and warrants comprising the SCALE units began separate trading on April 22, 2021. Holders have the option to continue to hold SCALE units or separate their SCALE units into the component securities. Holders will need to have their brokers contact our transfer agent in order to separate the SCALE units into shares of Class A common stock and warrants.

Additionally, the SCALE units will automatically separate into their component parts and will not be traded after completion of our initial business combination.

Private Placement SCALE units

The private placement SCALE units (including the private placement warrants or private placement shares issuable upon exercise of such warrants) will not be transferable, assignable or salable until 30 days after the completion of our initial business combination (except, among other limited exceptions as described under “Principal Stockholders—Restrictions on Transfer” in the IPO Prospectus, to our officers and directors and other persons or entities affiliated with our sponsor) and will have certain registration rights. Otherwise, the private placement SCALE units are identical to the SCALE units except that the private placement warrants included therein, so long as they are held by our sponsor or our officers or directors (or its or their permitted transferees), (i) will not be redeemable by us, (ii) may not (including the Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of these warrants), subject to certain limited exceptions, be transferred, assigned or sold until 30 days after the completion of our initial business combination, (iii) may be exercised by the holders on a cashless basis and (iv) will be entitled to registration rights.


Common Stock

As of March 15, 2022, 44,160,000 shares of our common stock are outstanding, consisting of:

 

   

35,535,000 shares of Class A common stock underlying the SCALE units; and

 

   

8,625,000 shares of Class B common stock held by our sponsor.

Only holders of our Class B common stock will have the right to vote on the election of directors and to remove directors prior to our initial business combination. Holders of our Class A common stock will not be entitled to vote on the election of directors during such time. In addition, prior to the completion of an initial business combination, holders of a majority of our Class B common stock may remove a member of the board of directors for any reason. Subject to the foregoing, unless otherwise specified in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation or amended and restated bylaws, or as required by applicable provisions of the DGCL or applicable stock exchange rules, directors shall be elected by a plurality of the voting power of our shares of common stock entitled to vote in the election of directors and represented in person or by proxy at a stockholder meeting. Each of our directors will serve for a term of one year. There is no cumulative voting with respect to the election of directors.

Unless specified in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation or amended and restated bylaws, or as required by applicable provisions of the DGCL or applicable stock exchange rules, in all matters other than the election of directors, the affirmative vote of a majority of the voting power of our shares of common stock represented in person or by proxy at a stockholder meeting and entitled to vote on the subject matter is required to approve any such matter voted on by our stockholders. Holders of our Class B common stock and holders of our Class A common stock will vote together as a single class, with each share of Class A common stock and Class B common stock entitling the holder to one vote per share. A quorum for such meeting will consist of the holders present in person or by proxy of shares of our outstanding capital stock representing a majority of the voting power of all outstanding shares of our capital stock entitled to vote at such meeting.

Our stockholders are entitled to receive ratable dividends when, as and if declared by the board of directors out of funds legally available therefor.

Because our amended and restated certificate of incorporation authorizes the issuance of up to only 280,000,000 shares of Class A common stock, if we were to enter into an initial business combination, we may (depending on the terms of such an initial business combination) be required to increase the number of shares of Class A common stock which we are authorized to issue at the same time as our stockholder vote on the initial business combination to the extent we seek stockholder approval in connection with our initial business combination.

In accordance with Nasdaq corporate governance requirements, we are not required to hold an annual meeting until one year after our first fiscal year end following our listing on Nasdaq. Under Section 211(b) of the DGCL, we are, however, required to hold an annual meeting of stockholders for the purposes of electing directors in accordance with our amended and restated bylaws, unless such election is made by written consent in lieu of such a meeting.

We will provide our public stockholders with the opportunity to redeem, out of funds legally available therefor, all or a portion of their public shares upon (i) the completion of our initial business combination or (ii) a stockholder vote to approve an amendment to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation (A) to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to allow redemption in connection with our initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering, or 27 months from the closing of our initial public offering if we have executed a letter of intent, agreement in principle or definitive agreement for an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering, or (B) with respect to any other provision relating to stockholders’ rights or pre-initial business combination activity. Such redemptions, if any, will be made at a per-share price, payable in cash and out of funds legally available therefor, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account as of two business days prior to the event triggering the right to redeem,


including interest earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to us to pay our franchise and income tax obligations, divided by the number of then outstanding public shares, subject to the limitations described herein. The amount in the trust account is initially anticipated to be approximately $10.00 per public share. The per-share amount we will distribute to investors who properly redeem their shares will not be reduced by the deferred underwriting commissions we will pay to the underwriters. Our sponsor and our officers, directors and advisors have entered into a letter agreement with us, pursuant to which they have agreed to waive their redemption rights with respect to any private placement shares and any public shares held by them in connection with the consummation of our initial business combination, or a stockholder vote to approve an amendment to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, as described above. Unlike many blank check companies that hold stockholder votes and conduct proxy solicitations in conjunction with their initial business combinations and provide for related redemptions of public shares for cash upon completion of such initial business combinations even when a vote is not required by law, if a stockholder vote is not required by law and we do not decide to hold a stockholder vote for business or other reasons, we will, pursuant to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, conduct the redemptions pursuant to the tender offer rules of the SEC, and file tender offer documents with the SEC prior to completing our initial business combination. Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation will require these tender offer documents to contain substantially the same financial and other information about the initial business combination and the redemption rights as is required under the SEC’s proxy rules. If, however, a stockholder approval of the transaction is required by law, or we decide to obtain stockholder approval for business or other reasons, we will, like many blank check companies, offer to redeem shares in conjunction with a proxy solicitation pursuant to the proxy rules and not pursuant to the tender offer rules. Subject to any other vote required by applicable law, if we submit our initial business combination to our public stockholders for a vote, we will complete our initial business combination only if the initial business combination is approved by the affirmative vote of at least a majority of the voting power of shares of our capital stock present in person or represented by proxy at a stockholder meeting and entitled to vote thereon. A quorum for such meeting will consist of the holders present in person or by proxy of shares of our outstanding capital stock representing a majority of the voting power of all outstanding shares of our capital stock entitled to vote at such meeting.

However, the participation of our sponsor, officers, directors, advisors or their affiliates in privately-negotiated transactions (as described in the IPO Prospectus), if any, could result in the approval of our initial business combination even if a majority of our public stockholders vote, or indicate their intention to vote, against such business combination. For purposes of seeking approval of the majority of shares present and entitled to vote thereon, broker non-votes will have no effect on the approval of our initial business combination once a quorum is obtained. We intend to give approximately 30 days (but not less than 10 days nor more than 60 days) prior written notice of any such meeting, if required, at which a vote shall be taken to approve our initial business combination. These quorum and voting thresholds, and the voting agreement of our sponsor, may make it more likely that we will consummate our initial business combination.

If we seek stockholder approval of our initial business combination and we do not conduct redemptions in connection with our initial business combination pursuant to the tender offer rules, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation will provide that a public stockholder, together with any affiliate of such stockholder or any other person with whom such stockholder is acting in concert or as a “group” (as defined under Section 13 of the Exchange Act), will be restricted from redeeming its shares with respect to more than an aggregate of 15% of the shares of common stock sold in our initial public offering, which we refer to as the Excess Shares. However, we would not be restricting our stockholders’ ability to vote all of their shares (including Excess Shares) for or against our initial business combination. Our stockholders’ inability to redeem the Excess Shares will reduce their influence over our ability to complete our initial business combination, and such stockholders could suffer a material loss in their investment if they sell such Excess Shares on the open market. Additionally, such stockholders will not receive redemption distributions with respect to the Excess Shares if we complete the initial business combination. And, as a result, such stockholders will continue to hold that number of shares exceeding 15% and, in order to dispose such shares would be required to sell their stock in open market transactions, potentially at a loss.

If we seek stockholder approval in connection with our initial business combination, pursuant to the letter agreement, our sponsor, officers, directors and advisors have agreed to vote all of their shares of our common stock (whether acquired before, in connection with or after our initial public offering, including in open market and privately negotiated transactions) in favor of our initial business combination. As a result, in addition to our sponsor’s Class B common stock and Class A common stock, we would need only 12,420,001, or 36.0% (assuming all outstanding shares are voted),


or 1,380,002, or 4.0% (assuming only the minimum number of shares representing a quorum are voted), of the 34,500,000 public shares sold in our initial public offering to be voted in favor of an initial business combination in order to have our initial business combination approved. Additionally, each public stockholder may elect to redeem its public shares irrespective of whether they vote for or against the proposed transaction (subject to the limitation described in the preceding paragraph).

Pursuant to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, if we do not complete our initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering, or 27 months from the closing of our initial public offering if we have executed a letter of intent, agreement in principle or definitive agreement for an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering, we will (i) cease all operations except for the purpose of winding up, (ii) as promptly as reasonably possible but no more than ten business days thereafter subject to lawfully available funds therefor, redeem the public shares, at a per-share price, payable in cash and out of funds legally available therefor, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account including interest earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to us to pay our franchise and income tax obligations (less up to $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses), divided by the number of then outstanding public shares, which redemption will completely extinguish public stockholders’ rights as stockholders (including the right to receive further liquidating distributions, if any), subject to applicable law, and (iii) as promptly as reasonably possible following such redemption, subject to the approval of our remaining stockholders and our board of directors, dissolve and liquidate, subject in each case to our obligations under Delaware law to provide for claims of creditors and the requirements of other applicable law. Our sponsor and our directors, officers and advisors have entered into a letter agreement with us, pursuant to which they have agreed to waive their rights to liquidating distributions from the trust account with respect to any private placement shares and shares of Class B common stock held by them However, if our sponsor or our officers or directors acquire public shares in or after our initial public offering, they will be entitled to liquidating distributions from the trust account with respect to such public shares if we fail to complete our initial business combination within the prescribed time period.

In the event of a liquidation, dissolution or winding up of the company after an initial business combination, our stockholders are entitled to share ratably in all assets remaining available for distribution to them after payment or setting aside of funds necessary to satisfy certain liabilities and other potential claims and after provision is made for each class of stock, if any, having preference over the common stock. Our stockholders have no preemptive or other subscription rights. There are no sinking fund provisions applicable to the common stock, except that we will provide our stockholders with the opportunity to redeem their public shares for cash equal to their pro rata share of the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account, upon the completion of our initial business combination, subject to the limitations described herein.

Class B Common Stock

Except as described below, the shares of Class B common stock are identical to the Class A common stock included in the SCALE units being sold in our initial public offering, and holders of such shares have the same stockholder rights as public stockholders, except that:

 

   

prior to our initial business combination, only holders of our Class B common stock will have the right to vote on the appointment of directors;

 

   

prior to the completion of our initial business combination, with respect to any matter submitted to a vote of our stockholders, including any vote in connection with our initial business combination, other than the appointment of directors prior to the completion of our business combination, except as required by law or to satisfy the applicable rules of Nasdaq then in effect, holders of our Class B common stock shares and holders of our public shares will vote together as a single class, with each share of Class A common stock entitling the holder to one vote per share and each share of Class B common stock entitling the holder to one vote per share;

 

   

following the completion of our initial business combination, with respect to any matter submitted to a vote of our stockholders, except as required by law or to satisfy the applicable rules of Nasdaq then in effect, holders of our Class B common stock and holders of our Class A common stock will vote together as a single class, with each share entitling the holder to one vote (as adjusted for stock splits, stock dividends, rights issuances, subdivisions, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like);


   

the shares of Class B common stock are subject to certain transfer restrictions, as described in more detail below;

 

   

the shares of Class B common stock will not have any redemption rights nor any rights to liquidating distributions from the trust account;

 

   

our sponsor and our directors, officers and advisors have entered into an agreement with us, pursuant to which they have agreed to (i) waive their redemption rights with respect to their private placement shares and public shares in connection with the completion of our initial business combination, (ii) waive their redemption rights with respect to their private placement shares and public shares in connection with a stockholder vote to approve an amendment to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation (A) to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to allow redemption in connection with our initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering, or 27 months from the closing of our initial public offering if we have executed a letter of intent, agreement in principle or definitive agreement for an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering, or (B) with respect to any other provision relating to stockholders’ rights or pre-initial business combination activity and (iii) waive their rights to liquidating distributions from the trust account with respect to any private placement shares or shares of Class B common stock they hold (although they will be entitled to liquidating distributions from the trust account with respect to any public shares they hold if we fail to complete our initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering, or 27 months from the closing of our initial public offering if we have executed a letter of intent, agreement in principle or definitive agreement for an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering);

 

   

as described in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, the Class B common stock will automatically convert into Class A common stock based on the occurrence of certain triggering events, one of which will occur upon the consummation of our initial business combination, three of which will be based on shares of our Class A common stock trading at $12.00, $15.00 and $20.00 per share for 20 trading days within a 30-trading day period following our initial business combination, and one of which will be based upon a specified strategic transaction following our initial business combination if the effective price per share of our Class A common stock is at least equal to $12.00 in such transaction, in each case prior to the 10th anniversary of our initial business combination and as described in the section of the IPO Prospectus titled “Description of Securities—Conversion of Class B Common Stock;” and

 

   

the shares of Class B common stock are entitled to registration rights.

If we seek stockholder approval in connection with our initial business combination, pursuant to the letter agreement, our sponsor and our directors, officers and advisors have agreed to vote all of their shares of our Class B common stock (whether acquired before, in connection with or after our initial public offering, including in open market and privately negotiated transactions) in favor of our initial business combination. As a result, in addition to our sponsor’s shares of Class B common stock and Class A common stock, we would need only 12,420,001, or 36.0% (assuming all outstanding shares are voted), or 1,380,002, or 4.0% (assuming only the minimum number of shares representing a quorum are voted), of the 34,500,000 public shares sold in our initial public offering to be voted in favor of an initial business combination in order to have our initial business combination approved.

With certain exceptions, our sponsor and our officers, directors and advisors have agreed not to transfer, assign or sell any of their shares of Class B common stock (or the shares of Class A common stock into which such shares are convertible) until the earliest of (A) six months after the completion of our initial business combination and (B) the date on which we complete a liquidation, merger, reorganization or other similar transaction following our initial business combination that results in all of our public stockholders having the right to exchange their Class A common stock for cash, securities or other property. Any permitted transferees would be subject to the same restrictions and other agreements of our sponsor with respect to any shares of Class B common stock and Class A common stock issued upon conversion of any Class B common stock.


Conversion of Class B Common Stock

One-quarter of the shares of Class B common stock will automatically convert into Class A common stock on a 1-for-1 basis (as adjusted for stock splits, stock dividends, rights issuances, subdivisions, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like) upon the consummation of our initial business combination (the “Combination Closing Vesting”). If prior to the ten year anniversary of our initial business combination the closing price of our Class A common stock equals or exceeds each of the per share price targets described below, one-quarter of the Class B common stock outstanding as of immediately prior to the closing of the initial business combination will, upon each such target achievement, automatically convert into Class A common stock on a 1-for-1 basis (as adjusted for stock splits, stock dividends, rights issuances, subdivisions, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like):

 

   

$12.00 per share (as adjusted for stock splits, stock dividends, rights issuances, subdivisions, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like) for any 20 trading days within a 30-trading day period, or the First Price Vesting;

 

   

$15.00 per share (as adjusted for stock splits, stock dividends, rights issuances, subdivisions, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like) for any 20 trading days within a 30-trading day period, or the Second Price Vesting; and

 

   

$20.00 per share (as adjusted for stock splits, stock dividends, rights issuances, subdivisions, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like) for any 20 trading days within a 30-trading day period, or the Third Price Vesting.

For example, if following the consummation of our initial business combination the closing price of our Class A common stock equals or exceeds $15.00 but does not equal or exceed $20.00 for 20 trading days within a 30-trading day period, both the First Price Vesting and Second Price Vesting target achievements will be met, resulting in a total of 4,312,500 shares of Class B common stock converting into 4,312,500 shares of Class A common stock, representing 2,156,250 shares associated with the First Price Vesting and 2,156,250 shares associated with the Second Price Vesting (as adjusted for stock splits, stock dividends, rights issuances, subdivisions, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like). Together with the 2,156,250 shares of Class B common stock already vested and converted to Class A common stock associated with the Combination Closing Vesting, a total of 6,468,750 shares of Class B common stock will have vested and converted into Class A common stock in this example.

In the event of any liquidation, merger, reorganization or other similar transaction consummated after our initial business combination, or the Strategic Transaction, that results in all of our public stockholders having the right to exchange their Class A common stock for cash, securities or other property at an effective price of at least $12.00 per share of Class A common stock, all of the then-outstanding shares of Class B common stock will convert into an equivalent number of shares of Class A common stock (as adjusted for stock splits, stock dividends, rights issuances, subdivisions, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like). If the effective price in such Strategic Transaction is less than $12.00 per share of Class A common stock, all of the then-outstanding shares of Class B common stock will be automatically forfeited.

In no event will the Class B common stock convert into Class A common stock at a ratio of less than one-to-one.

All shares of Class B common stock that are issued and outstanding on the 10th anniversary of our initial business combination will be automatically forfeited.

Preferred Stock

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that shares of preferred stock may be issued from time to time in one or more series. Our board of directors is authorized to fix the voting rights, if any, designations, powers, preferences, the relative, participating, optional or other special rights and any qualifications, limitations and restrictions thereof, applicable to the shares of each series. Our board of directors will be able to, without stockholder approval, issue preferred stock with voting and other rights that could adversely affect the voting power and other rights of the holders of the common stock and could have anti-takeover effects. The ability of our board of directors to issue preferred stock


without stockholder approval could have the effect of delaying, deferring or preventing a change of control of us or the removal of existing management. We have no preferred stock outstanding at the date hereof. Although we do not currently intend to issue any shares of preferred stock, we cannot assure you that we will not do so in the future. No shares of preferred stock were issued or registered in our initial public offering.

Warrants

Public Warrants

Each whole warrant entitles the registered holder to purchase one share of Class A common stock at a price of $11.50 per share, subject to adjustment as discussed below, at any time commencing on the later of one year from the closing of our initial public offering and 30 days after the date of completion of our initial business combination, provided in each case that we have an effective registration statement under the Securities Act covering the Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants and a current prospectus relating to them is available (or we permit holders to exercise their warrants on a cashless basis under the circumstances specified in the warrant agreement) and such shares are registered, qualified or exempt from registration under the securities, or blue sky, laws of the state of residence of the holder. Pursuant to the warrant agreement, a warrant holder may exercise its warrants only for a whole number of shares of Class A common stock. This means only a whole warrant may be exercised at a given time by a warrant holder. No fractional warrants will be issued upon separation of the SCALE units and only whole warrants will trade. Accordingly, unless you purchase at least five SCALE units, you will not be able to receive or trade a whole warrant. The warrants will expire five years after the completion of our initial business combination, at 5:00 p.m., New York City time, or earlier upon redemption or liquidation.

We will not be obligated to deliver any Class A common stock pursuant to the exercise of a warrant and will have no obligation to settle such warrant exercise unless a registration statement under the Securities Act with respect to the Class A common stock underlying the warrants is then effective and a prospectus relating thereto is current, subject to our satisfying our obligations described below with respect to registration, or a valid exemption from registration is available. No warrant will be exercisable and we will not be obligated to issue a share of Class A common stock upon exercise of a warrant unless the share of Class A common stock issuable upon such warrant exercise has been registered, qualified or deemed to be exempt under the securities laws of the state of residence of the registered holder of the warrants. In the event that the conditions in the two immediately preceding sentences are not satisfied with respect to a warrant, the holder of such warrant will not be entitled to exercise such warrant and such warrant may have no value and expire worthless. In no event will we be required to net cash settle any warrant. In the event that a registration statement is not effective for the exercised warrants, the purchaser of a SCALE unit containing such warrant will have paid the full purchase price for the SCALE unit solely for the share of Class A common stock underlying such SCALE unit.

We have agreed that as soon as practicable, but in no event later than 20 business days after the closing of our initial business combination, we will use our commercially reasonable efforts to file with the SEC a registration statement covering the Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants, and we will use our commercially reasonable efforts to cause the same to become effective within 60 business days after the closing of our initial business combination, and to maintain the effectiveness of such registration statement and a current prospectus relating to those shares of Class A common stock until the warrants expire or are redeemed, as specified in the warrant agreement; provided that if our shares of Class A common stock are at the time of any exercise of a warrant not listed on a national securities exchange such that they do not satisfy the definition of a “covered security” under Section 18(b)(1) of the Securities Act, we may, at our option, require holders of warrants who exercise their warrants to do so on a “cashless basis” in accordance with Section 3(a)(9) of the Securities Act and, in the event we so elect, we will not be required to file or maintain in effect a registration statement. If a registration statement covering the Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants is not effective by the 60th business day after the closing of the initial business combination, warrant holders may, until such time as there is an effective registration statement and during any period when we will have failed to maintain an effective registration statement, exercise warrants on a “cashless basis” in accordance with Section 3(a)(9) of the Securities Act or another exemption, but we will use our best efforts to register or qualify the shares under applicable blue sky laws to the extent an exemption is not available. In such event, each holder would pay the exercise price by surrendering the warrants for that number of shares of Class A common stock equal to the lesser of (A) the quotient obtained by dividing (x) the product of the number of shares of Class A common stock


underlying the warrants, multiplied by the excess of the “fair market value” (defined below) less the exercise price of the warrants by (y) the fair market value and (B) 0.361 per warrant. The “fair market value” as used in this paragraph shall mean the volume weighted average trading price of our Class A common stock as reported during the 10 trading days ending on the third trading day prior to the date on which the notice of exercise is received by the warrant agent.

In addition, if (x) we issue additional Class A common stock or equity linked securities for capital raising purposes in connection with the closing of our initial business combination at an issue price or effective issue price of less than $9.20 per share of Class A common stock (with such issue price or effective issue price to be determined in good faith by our board of directors), or the Newly Issued Price, (y) the aggregate gross proceeds from such issuances represent more than 60% of the total equity proceeds, and interest thereon, available for the funding of our initial business combination (net of redemptions), and (z) the volume weighted average trading price of our Class A common stock during the 10 trading day period starting on the trading day after the day on which we consummate our initial business combination (which price we refer to as the Market Value) is below $9.20 per share, the exercise price of the warrants will be adjusted (to the nearest cent) to be equal to 115% of the higher of the Market Value and the Newly Issued Price, the $18.00 per share redemption trigger price will be adjusted (to the nearest cent) to be equal to 180% of the higher of the Market Value and the Newly Issued Price, and the $10.00 per share redemption trigger price will be adjusted (to the nearest cent) to be equal to the higher of the Market Value and the Newly Issued Price.

Redemption of warrants when the price per share of Class A common stock equals or exceeds $18.00.

Once the warrants become exercisable, we may call the warrants for redemption:

 

   

in whole and not in part;

 

   

at a price of $0.01 per warrant;

 

   

upon not less than 30 days’ prior written notice of redemption to each warrant holder; and

 

   

if, and only if, the closing price of the Class A common stock equals or exceeds $18.00 per share (as adjusted for stock splits, stock dividends, rights issuances, subdivisions, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like) for any 20 trading days within a 30-trading day period ending on the third trading day prior to the date on which notice of the redemption is given to the warrant holders.

We will not redeem the warrants as described above unless a registration statement under the Securities Act covering the issuance of the Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants is then effective and a current prospectus relating to those shares is available throughout the 30-day redemption period, except if the warrants may be exercised on a cashless basis and such cashless exercise is exempt from registration under the Securities Act. If and when the warrants become redeemable by us, we may exercise our redemption right even if we are unable to register or qualify the underlying securities for sale under all applicable state securities laws. As a result, we may redeem the warrants as set forth above even if the holders are otherwise unable to exercise the warrants. In addition, our board of directors will have the option to require any holder that wishes to exercise his, her or its warrant to do so on a cashless basis. See “—Redemption procedures and cashless exercise.”

We have established the last of the redemption criterion discussed above to prevent a redemption call unless there is at the time of the call a significant premium to the warrant exercise price. If the foregoing conditions are satisfied and we issue a notice of redemption of the warrants, each warrant holder will be entitled to exercise his, her or its warrant prior to the scheduled redemption date. However, the price of the Class A common stock may fall below the $18.00 redemption trigger price (as adjusted for stock splits, stock dividends, rights issuances, subdivisions, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like) as well as the $11.50 (for whole shares) warrant exercise price after the redemption notice is issued.

Redemption of warrants when the price per share of Class A common stock equals or exceeds $10.00.

Once the warrants become exercisable, we may redeem the outstanding warrants:

 

   

in whole and not in part;


   

at $0.10 per warrant upon a minimum of 30 days’ prior written notice of redemption provided that during the 30 day period following delivery of such notice holders will be able to exercise their warrants on a cashless basis prior to redemption and receive that number of shares determined by reference to the table below, based on the redemption date and the “fair market value” of our Class A common stock (as defined below) except as otherwise described below provided, further, that if the warrants are not exercised on a cashless basis or otherwise during such 30 day period, we shall redeem such warrants for $0.10 per share; and

 

   

if, and only if, the closing price of our Class A common stock equals or exceeds $10.00 per public share (as adjusted for stock splits, stock dividends, rights issuances, subdivisions, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like) on the trading day before we send the notice of redemption to the warrant holders.

Beginning on the date the notice of redemption is given until the warrants are redeemed or exercised, holders may elect to exercise their warrants on a cashless basis. The numbers in the table below represent the number of shares of Class A common stock that a warrant holder will receive upon a cashless exercise in connection with a redemption by us pursuant to this redemption feature, based on the “fair market value” of our Class A common stock on the corresponding redemption date (assuming holders elect to exercise their warrants and such warrants are not redeemed for $0.10 per warrant), determined based on volume weighted average trading price of our Class A common stock as reported during the 10 trading days ending on the third trading day prior to the date on which the notice of redemption is sent to the holders of warrants, and the number of months that the corresponding redemption date precedes the expiration date of the warrants, each as set forth in the table below.

We will provide our warrant holders with the final fair market value no later than one business day after the 10-trading day period described above ends.

Pursuant to the warrant agreement, references above and in the table below to shares of Class A common stock shall include a security other than the shares of Class A common stock into which the shares of Class A common stock have been converted or exchanged for in the event we are not the surviving company in our initial business combination. The numbers in the table below will not be adjusted when determining the number of shares of Class A common stock to be issued upon exercise of the warrants if we are not the surviving entity following our initial business combination. The share prices set forth in the column headings of the table below will be adjusted as of any date on which the number of shares issuable upon exercise of a warrant or the exercise price of the warrant is adjusted as set forth under the heading “—Anti-dilution Adjustments” below. If the number of shares issuable upon exercise of a warrant is adjusted, the adjusted share prices in the column headings will equal the share prices immediately prior to such adjustment, multiplied by a fraction, the numerator of which is the exercise price of the warrant after such adjustment and the denominator of which is the price of the warrant immediately prior to such adjustment. In such an event, the number of shares in the table below shall be adjusted by multiplying such share amounts by a fraction, the numerator of which is the number of shares deliverable upon exercise of a warrant immediately prior to such adjustment and the denominator of which is the number of shares deliverable upon exercise of a warrant as so adjusted. If the exercise price of the warrant is adjusted (a) as a result of raising capital in connection with the initial business combination, the adjusted share prices in the column headings will by multiplied by a fraction, the numerator of which is the higher of the Market Value and the Newly Issued Price as set forth under the heading “—Anti-dilution Adjustments” and the denominator of which is $10.00 and (b) in the case of an adjustment pursuant to the second paragraph under the heading ”—Anti-Dilution Adjustments,” the adjustment share prices in the column headings will equal the unadjusted share price less the decrease in the exercise price of a warrant pursuant to such exercise price adjustment.

 

Redemption Date (period to expiration of warrants)    Fair Market Value of Class A Common Stock  
   10.00      11.00      12.00      13.00      14.00      15.00      16.00      17.00      18.00  

60 months

     0.261        0.281        0.297        0.311        0.324        0.337        0.348        0.358        0.361  

57 months

     0.257        0.277        0.294        0.310        0.324        0.337        0.348        0.358        0.361  

54 months

     0.252        0.272        0.291        0.307        0.322        0.335        0.347        0.357        0.361  

51 months

     0.246        0.268        0.287        0.304        0.320        0.333        0.346        0.357        0.361  

48 months

     0.241        0.263        0.283        0.301        0.317        0.332        0.344        0.356        0.361  

45 months

     0.235        0.258        0.279        0.298        0.315        0.330        0.343        0.356        0.361  

42 months

     0.228        0.252        0.274        0.294        0.312        0.328        0.342        0.355        0.361  

39 months

     0.221        0.246        0.269        0.290        0.309        0.325        0.340        0.354        0.361  


36 months

     0.213        0.239        0.263        0.285        0.305        0.323        0.339        0.353        0.361  

33 months

     0.205        0.232        0.257        0.280        0.301        0.320        0.337        0.352        0.361  

30 months

     0.196        0.224        0.250        0.274        0.297        0.316        0.335        0.351        0.361  

27 months

     0.185        0.214        0.242        0.268        0.291        0.313        0.332        0.350        0.361  

24 months

     0.173        0.204        0.233        0.260        0.285        0.308        0.329        0.348        0.361  

21 months

     0.161        0.193        0.223        0.252        0.279        0.304        0.326        0.347        0.361  

18 months

     0.146        0.179        0.211        0.242        0.271        0.298        0.322        0.345        0.361  

15 months

     0.130        0.164        0.197        0.230        0.262        0.291        0.317        0.342        0.361  

12 months

     0.111        0.146        0.181        0.216        0.250        0.282        0.312        0.339        0.361  

9 months

     0.090        0.125        0.162        0.199        0.237        0.272        0.305        0.336        0.361  

6 months

     0.065        0.099        0.137        0.178        0.219        0.259        0.296        0.331        0.361  

3 months

     0.034        0.065        0.104        0.150        0.197        0.243        0.286        0.326        0.361  

0 months

     —          —          0.042        0.115        0.179        0.233        0.281        0.323        0.361  

The exact fair market value and time to expiration may not be set forth in the table above, in which case, if the fair market value is between two values in the table or the time to expiration is between two redemption dates in the table, the number of shares of Class A common stock to be issued for each warrant exercised will be determined by a straight-line interpolation between the number of shares set forth for the higher and lower fair market values and the earlier and later redemption dates, as applicable, based on a 365 or 366-day year, as applicable. For example, if the volume weighted average trading price of our Class A common stock as reported during the 10 trading days ending on the third trading day prior to the date on which the notice of redemption is sent to the holders of the warrants is $11.00 per share, and at such time there are 57 months until the expiration of the warrants, holders may choose to, in connection with this redemption feature, exercise their warrants for 0.277 shares of Class A common stock for each whole warrant. For an example where the exact fair market value and redemption date are not as set forth in the table above, if the volume weighted average trading price of our Class A common stock as reported during the 10 trading days ending on the third trading day prior to the date on which the notice of redemption is sent to the holders of the warrants is $13.50 per share, and at such time there are 38 months until the expiration of the warrants, holders may choose to, in connection with this redemption feature, exercise their warrants for 0.298 shares of Class A common stock for each whole warrant. In no event will the warrants be exercisable on a cashless basis in connection with this redemption feature for more than 0.361 shares of Class A common stock per warrant (subject to adjustment). Finally, as reflected in the table above, if the warrants are out of the money and about to expire, they cannot be exercised on a cashless basis in connection with a redemption by us pursuant to this redemption feature, since they will not be exercisable for any shares of Class A common stock.

This redemption feature is structured to allow for all of the outstanding warrants to be redeemed when the shares of Class A common stock are trading at or above $10.00 per public share, which may be at a time when the trading price of our Class A common stock is below the exercise price of the warrants. We have established this redemption feature to provide us with the flexibility to redeem the warrants without the warrants having to reach the $18.00 per share threshold set forth above under “—Redemption of warrants for cash when the price per share of Class A common stock equals or exceeds $18.00.” Holders choosing to exercise their warrants in connection with a redemption pursuant to this feature will, in effect, receive a number of shares for their warrants based on an option pricing model with a fixed volatility input as of the date of this prospectus. This redemption right provides us with an additional mechanism by which to redeem all of the outstanding warrants, and therefore have certainty as to our capital structure as the warrants would no longer be outstanding and would have been exercised or redeemed. We will be required to pay the applicable redemption price to warrant holders if we choose to exercise this redemption right and it will allow us to quickly proceed with a redemption of the warrants if we determine it is in our best interest to do so. As such, we would redeem the warrants in this manner when we believe it is in our best interest to update our capital structure to remove the warrants and pay the redemption price to the warrant holders.

As stated above, we can redeem the warrants when the shares of Class A common stock are trading at a price starting at $10.00, which is below the exercise price of $11.50, because it will provide certainty with respect to our capital structure and cash position while providing warrant holders with the opportunity to exercise their warrants on a cashless basis for the applicable number of shares. If we choose to redeem the warrants when the shares of Class A common stock are trading at a price below the exercise price of the warrants, this could result in the warrant holders receiving fewer shares of Class A common stock than they would have received if they had chosen to wait to exercise their warrants for shares of Class A common stock if and when such shares of Class A common stock were trading at a price higher than the exercise price of $11.50.


No fractional shares of Class A common stock will be issued upon exercise. If, upon exercise, a holder would be entitled to receive a fractional interest in a share, we will round down to the nearest whole number of the number of shares of Class A common stock to be issued to the holder. If, at the time of redemption, the warrants are exercisable for a security other than the Class A common stock pursuant to the warrant agreement (for instance, if we are not the surviving company in our initial business combination), the warrants may be exercised for such security. At such time as the warrants become exercisable for a security other than the Class A common stock, the Company (or surviving company) will use its commercially reasonable efforts to register under the Securities Act the security issuable upon the exercise of the warrants.

Redemption procedures and cashless exercise.

If we call the warrants for redemption when the price per share of Class A common stock equals or exceeds $18.00 as described under “—Redemption of warrants for cash when the price per share of Class A common stock equals or exceeds $18.00,” our board of directors will have the option to require any holder that wishes to exercise his, her or its warrant to do so on a “cashless basis” beginning on the third trading day prior to the date on which notice of the redemption is given to the holders of warrants. In determining whether to require all holders to exercise their warrants on a “cashless basis,” our board of directors will consider, among other factors, our cash position, the number of warrants that are outstanding and the dilutive effect on our stockholders of issuing the maximum number of shares of Class A common stock issuable upon the exercise of our warrants. If our board of directors exercises this option, all holders of warrants would pay the exercise price by surrendering their warrants for that number of shares of Class A common stock equal to the lesser of (A) the quotient obtained by dividing (x) the product of the number of shares of Class A common stock underlying the warrants, multiplied by the excess of the “fair market value” (defined below) over the exercise price of the warrants by (y) the fair market value and (B) 0.361 per warrant. The “fair market value” will mean the average volume-weighted average trading price of the Class A common stock for the 10 trading days ending on the third trading day prior to the date on which the notice of redemption is sent to the holders of warrants. If our board of directors exercises this option, the notice of redemption will contain the information necessary to calculate the number of shares of Class A common stock to be received upon exercise of the warrants, including the “fair market value” in such case. Requiring a cashless exercise in this manner will reduce the number of shares to be issued and thereby lessen the dilutive effect of a warrant redemption. We believe this feature is an attractive option to us if we do not need the cash from the exercise of the warrants after our initial business combination.

A holder of a warrant may notify us in writing in the event it elects to be subject to a requirement that such holder will not have the right to exercise such warrant, to the extent that after giving effect to such exercise, such person (together with such person’s affiliates), to the warrant agent’s actual knowledge, would beneficially own in excess of 4.9% or 9.8% (as specified by the holder) of the Class A common stock issued and outstanding immediately after giving effect to such exercise.

Anti-dilution adjustments.

If the number of outstanding shares of Class A common stock is increased by a stock dividend payable in shares of Class A common stock, or by a split-up of shares of Class A common stock or other similar event, then, on the effective date of such stock dividend, split-up or similar event, the number of shares of Class A common stock issuable on exercise of each warrant will be increased in proportion to such increase in the outstanding shares of Class A common stock. A rights offering to holders of Class A common stock entitling holders to purchase shares of Class A common stock at a price less than the historical fair market value (as defined below) will be deemed a stock dividend of a number of shares of Class A common stock equal to the product of (i) the number of shares of Class A common stock actually sold in such rights offering (or issuable under any other equity securities sold in such rights offering that are convertible into or exercisable for Class A common stock) and (ii) one minus the quotient of (x) the price per share of Class A common stock paid in such rights offering divided by (y) the historical fair market value. For these purposes (i) if the rights offering is for securities convertible into or exercisable for Class A common stock, in determining the price payable for


Class A common stock, there will be taken into account any consideration received for such rights, as well as any additional amount payable upon conversion or exercise and (ii) “historical fair market value” means the volume weighted average trading price of Class A common stock as reported during the ten trading day period ending on the trading day prior to the first date on which the shares of Class A common stock trade on the applicable exchange or in the applicable market, regular way, without the right to receive such rights.

In addition, if we, at any time while the warrants are outstanding and unexpired, pay a dividend or make a distribution in cash, securities or other assets to all or substantially all the holders of Class A common stock on account of such Class A common stock (or other securities into which the warrants are convertible), other than (a) as described above, (b) any cash dividends or cash distributions which, when combined on a per share basis with all other cash dividends and cash distributions paid on the Class A common stock during the 365-day period ending on the date of declaration of such dividend or distribution does not exceed $0.50 (as adjusted to appropriately reflect any other adjustments and excluding cash dividends or cash distributions that resulted in an adjustment to the exercise price or to the number of shares of Class A common stock issuable on exercise of each warrant) but only with respect to the amount of the aggregate cash dividends or cash distributions equal to or less than $0.50 per share, (c) to satisfy the redemption rights of the holders of Class A common stock in connection with a proposed initial business combination, (d) to satisfy the redemption rights of the holders of Class A common stock in connection with a stockholder vote to amend our amended and restated certificate of incorporation (A) to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to provide holders of our Class A common stock the right to have their shares redeemed in connection with our initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering, or 27 months from the closing of our initial public offering if we have executed a letter of intent, agreement in principle or definitive agreement for an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering or (B) with respect to any other provision relating to stockholders’ rights or pre-initial business combination activity, or (e) in connection with the redemption of our public shares upon our failure to complete our initial business combination, then the warrant exercise price will be decreased, effective immediately after the effective date of such event, by the amount of cash and/or the fair market value of any securities or other assets paid on each share of Class A common stock in respect of such event.

If the number of outstanding shares of our Class A common stock is decreased by a consolidation, combination, reverse stock split or reclassification of shares of Class A common stock or other similar event, then, on the effective date of such consolidation, combination, reverse stock split, reclassification or similar event, the number of shares of Class A common stock issuable on exercise of each warrant will be decreased in proportion to such decrease in outstanding shares of Class A common stock.

Whenever the number of shares of Class A common stock purchasable upon the exercise of the warrants is adjusted, as described above, the warrant exercise price will be adjusted by multiplying the warrant exercise price immediately prior to such adjustment by a fraction (x) the numerator of which will be the number of shares of Class A common stock purchasable upon the exercise of the warrants immediately prior to such adjustment, and (y) the denominator of which will be the number of shares of Class A common stock so purchasable immediately thereafter.

In addition, if (x) we issue additional shares of Class A common stock or equity-linked securities for capital raising purposes in connection with the closing of our initial business combination, at an issue price or effective issue price of less than the Newly Issued Price, (y) the aggregate gross proceeds from such issuances represent more than 60% of the total equity proceeds, and interest thereon, available for the funding of our initial business combination on the date of the consummation of our initial business combination (net of redemptions), and (z) the volume weighted average trading price of our Class A common stock during the 10 trading day period starting on the trading day after the day on which we consummate our initial business combination (such price, the “Market Value”) is below $9.20 per share, the exercise price of the warrants will be adjusted (to the nearest cent) to be equal to 115% of the higher of the Market Value and the Newly Issued Price, and the $18.00 per share redemption trigger price described under “—Redemption of warrants for cash when the price per share of Class A common stock equals or exceeds $18.00” will be adjusted (to the nearest cent) to be equal to 180% of the higher of the Market Value and the Newly Issued Price, and the $10.00 per share redemption trigger price described below under “—Redemption of public warrants when the price per share of Class A common stock equals or exceeds $10.00” will be adjusted (to the nearest cent) to be equal to the higher of the Market Value and the Newly Issued Price.


In case of any reclassification or reorganization of the outstanding shares of Class A common stock (other than those described above or that solely affects the par value of such shares of Class A common stock), or in the case of any merger or consolidation of us with or into another corporation (other than a consolidation or merger in which we are the continuing corporation and that does not result in any reclassification or reorganization of our outstanding capital stock), or in the case of any sale or conveyance to another corporation or entity of the assets or other property of us as an entirety or substantially as an entirety in connection with which we are dissolved, the holders of the warrants will thereafter have the right to purchase and receive, upon the basis and upon the terms and conditions specified in the warrants and in lieu of the shares of our Class A common stock immediately theretofore purchasable and receivable upon the exercise of the rights represented thereby, the kind and amount of shares of stock or other securities or property (including cash) receivable upon such reclassification, reorganization, merger or consolidation, or upon a dissolution following any such sale or transfer, that the holder of the warrants would have received if such holder had exercised their warrants immediately prior to such event. If less than 70% of the consideration receivable by the holders of Class A common stock in such a transaction is payable in the form of Class A common stock in the successor entity that is listed for trading on a national securities exchange or is quoted in an established over-the-counter market, or is to be so listed for trading or quoted immediately following such event, and if the registered holder of the warrant properly exercises the warrant within thirty days following public disclosure of such transaction, the warrant exercise price will be reduced as specified in the warrant agreement based on the Black-Scholes value (as defined in the warrant agreement) of the warrant. The purpose of such exercise price reduction is to provide additional value to holders of the warrants when an extraordinary transaction occurs during the exercise period of the warrants pursuant to which the holders of the warrants otherwise do not receive the full potential value of the warrants in order to determine and realize the option value component of the warrant. This formula is to compensate the warrant holder for the loss of the option value portion of the warrant due to the requirement that the warrant holder exercise the warrant within 30 days of the event. The Black-Scholes model is an accepted pricing model for estimating fair market value where no quoted market price for an instrument is available.

The warrants will be issued in registered form under a warrant agreement between American Stock Transfer & Trust Company, LLC, as warrant agent, and us. The warrant agreement provides that the terms of the warrants may be amended without the consent of any holder to cure any ambiguity or correct any defective provision or correct any mistake, including to conform the provisions of the warrant agreement to the description of the terms of the warrants and the warrant agreement set forth in this prospectus, but requires the approval by the holders of at least 50% of the then outstanding public warrants to make any change that adversely affects the interests of the holders of warrants. You should review a copy of the warrant agreement, which will be filed as an exhibit to the registration statement of which this prospectus is a part, for a complete description of the terms and conditions applicable to the warrants.

The warrant holders do not have the rights or privileges of holders of Class A common stock or any voting rights until they exercise their warrants and receive shares of Class A common stock. After the issuance of shares of Class A common stock upon exercise of the warrants, each holder will be entitled to one vote for each share held of record on all matters to be voted on by stockholders.

No fractional warrants will be issued upon separation of the SCALE units and only whole warrants will trade. If, upon exercise of the warrants, a holder would be entitled to receive a fractional interest in a share, we will, upon exercise, round down to the nearest whole number of shares of Class A common stock to be issued to the warrant holder.

Private Placement Warrants

The private placement warrants (including the Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of the private placement warrants) will not be transferable, assignable or salable until 30 days after the completion of our initial business combination (except, among other limited exceptions as described in this prospectus, to our officers and directors and other persons or entities affiliated with our sponsor) and they will not be redeemable by us so long as they are held by our sponsor or our officers or directors (or its or their permitted transferees). Our sponsor, or its permitted transferees, has the option to exercise the private placement warrants on a cashless basis. Except as described below, the private placement warrants have terms and provisions that are identical to those of the warrants being sold as part of the SCALE units in our initial public offering, including as to exercise price, exercisability and exercise period. If the private placement warrants are held by holders other than our sponsor or its permitted transferees, the private placement warrants will be redeemable by us and exercisable by the holders on the same basis as the warrants included in the SCALE units being sold in our initial public offering.


If holders of the private placement warrants elect to exercise them on a cashless basis, they would pay the exercise price by surrendering their warrants for that number of shares of Class A common stock equal to the quotient obtained by dividing (x) the product of the number of shares of Class A common stock underlying the warrants, multiplied by the difference between the exercise price of the warrants and the “fair market value” (defined below) by (y) the fair market value. The “fair market value” shall mean the average volume weighted average trading price of the Class A common stock for the 10 trading days ending on the third trading day prior to the date on which the notice of warrant exercise is sent to the warrant agent. The reason that we have agreed that these warrants will be exercisable on a cashless basis so long as they are held by our sponsor or our officers or directors (or its or their permitted transferees) is because it is not known at this time whether they will be affiliated with us following an initial business combination. If they remain affiliated with us, their ability to sell our securities in the open market will be significantly limited. We expect to have policies in place that prohibit insiders from selling our securities except during specific periods of time. Even during such periods of time when insiders will be permitted to sell our securities, an insider cannot trade in our securities if he or she is in possession of material non-public information. Accordingly, unlike public stockholders who could sell the shares of Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants freely in the open market, the insiders could be significantly restricted from doing so. As a result, we believe that allowing the holders to exercise such warrants on a cashless basis is appropriate.

In addition, holders of our private placement warrants are entitled to certain registration rights and any private placement warrants held by our sponsor will not be exercisable more than five years from the effective date of the registration statement used in our initial public offering.

Our sponsor has agreed not to transfer, assign or sell any of the private placement SCALE units, private placement shares or private placement warrants (including the Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of any of these warrants) until the date that is 30 days after the date we complete our initial business combination, except, among other limited exceptions as described in this prospectus, to our officers and directors and other persons or entities affiliated with our sponsor.

Dividends

We have not paid any cash dividends on our common stock to date and do not intend to pay cash dividends prior to the completion of an initial business combination. The payment of cash dividends in the future will be dependent upon our revenues and earnings, if any, capital requirements and general financial conditions subsequent to completion of an initial business combination. The payment of any cash dividends subsequent to an initial business combination will be within the discretion of our board of directors at such time. Further, if we incur any indebtedness, our ability to declare dividends may be limited by restrictive covenants we may agree to in connection therewith.

Our Transfer Agent and Warrant Agent

The transfer agent for our common stock and warrant agent for our warrants is American Stock Transfer & Trust Company, LLC, or AST. We have agreed to indemnify AST in its roles as transfer agent and warrant agent, its agents and each of its stockholders, directors, officers and employees against all claims and losses that may arise out of acts performed or omitted for its activities in that capacity, except for any liability due to any gross negligence, willful misconduct or bad faith of the indemnified person or entity.


Our Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation contains certain requirements and restrictions that will apply to us until the completion of our initial business combination. These provisions cannot be amended without the approval of the holders of 65% of the voting power of our outstanding common stock. Our sponsor, who beneficially owns, on an as-converted to Class A common stock basis, 21.9% of our outstanding capital stock (including the private placement shares) will participate in any vote to amend our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and will have the discretion to vote in any manner they choose. Specifically, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides, among other things, that:

 

   

If we do not complete our initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering, or 27 months from the closing of our initial public offering if we have executed a letter of intent, agreement in principle or definitive agreement for an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering, we will (i) cease all operations except for the purpose of winding up, (ii) as promptly as reasonably possible but not more than ten business days thereafter subject to lawfully available funds therefor, redeem 100% of the public shares, at a per-share price, payable in cash and out of funds legally available therefor, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account including interest earned on the funds held in the trust account not previously released to us released to us to pay our franchise and income tax obligations (less up to $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses), divided by the number of then outstanding public shares, which redemption will completely extinguish public stockholders’ rights as stockholders (including the right to receive further liquidating distributions, if any), subject to applicable law, and (iii) as promptly as reasonably possible following such redemption, subject to the approval of our remaining stockholders and our board of directors, dissolve and liquidate, subject in each case to our obligations under Delaware law to provide for claims of creditors and the requirements of other applicable law;

 

   

Prior to or in connection with our initial business combination, we may not issue additional shares of capital stock that would entitle the holders thereof to (i) receive funds from the trust account or (ii) vote on our initial business combination;

 

   

Although we do not intend to enter into an initial business combination with a target business that is affiliated with our sponsor, directors or officers, we are not prohibited from doing so. In the event we enter into such a transaction, we, or a committee of independent directors, will obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm that such an initial business combination is fair to our company from a financial point of view. We may take other appropriate steps consistent with Delaware law to address any potential conflicts of interest;

 

   

If a stockholder vote on our initial business combination is not required by law and we do not decide to hold a stockholder vote for business or other reasons, we will offer to redeem our public shares pursuant to Rule 13e-4 and Regulation 14E of the Exchange Act, and will file tender offer documents with the SEC prior to completing our initial business combination which contain substantially the same financial and other information about our initial business combination and the redemption rights as is required under Regulation 14A of the Exchange Act; whether or not we maintain our registration under the our Exchange Act or our listing on Nasdaq, we will provide our public stockholders with the opportunity to redeem their public shares by one of the two methods listed above;

 

   

Our initial business combination will be approved by a majority of independent and disinterested directors;

 

   

If our stockholders approve an amendment to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation (i) to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to allow redemption in connection with our initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering, or 27 months from the closing of our initial public offering if we have executed a letter of intent, agreement in principle or definitive agreement for an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering, or (ii) with respect to any other provision relating to stockholders’ rights or pre-business combination activity, we will provide our public stockholders with the opportunity to redeem all or a portion of their shares of Class A common stock upon such approval at a per-share price, payable in cash and out of funds legally available therefor, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account, including interest earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to us to pay our franchise and income tax obligations, divided by the number of then outstanding public shares; and

 

   

We will not effectuate our initial business combination with another blank check company or a similar company with nominal operations.


In addition, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that under no circumstances will we redeem our public shares in an amount that would cause our net tangible assets to be less than $5,000,001 upon consummation of our initial business combination and after payment of deferred underwriting commissions.

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation also provides that we renounce our interest in any corporate opportunity offered to any director or officer unless such opportunity is expressly offered to such person solely in his or her capacity as a director or officer of our company and such opportunity is one we are legally and contractually permitted to undertake and would otherwise be reasonable for us to pursue, and to the extent the director or officer is permitted to refer that opportunity to us without violating another legal obligation.

Certain Anti-Takeover Provisions of Delaware Law and our Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation and Amended and Restated Bylaws

We have opted out of Section 203 of the DGCL. However, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation contains similar provisions providing that we may not engage in certain “business combinations” with any “interested stockholder” for a three-year period following the time that the stockholder became an interested stockholder, unless:

 

   

prior to such time, our board of directors approved either the business combination or the transaction which resulted in the stockholder becoming an interested stockholder;

 

   

upon consummation of the transaction that resulted in the stockholder becoming an interested stockholder, the interested stockholder owned at least 85% of our voting stock outstanding at the time the transaction commenced, excluding certain shares; or

 

   

at or subsequent to that time, the business combination is approved by our board of directors and by the affirmative vote of holders of at least 66-2/3% of the outstanding voting stock that is not owned by the interested stockholder.

Generally, a “business combination” includes a merger, asset or stock sale or certain other transactions resulting in a financial benefit to the interested stockholder. Subject to certain exceptions, an “interested stockholder” is a person who, together with that person’s affiliates and associates, owns, or within the previous three years owned, 15% or more of our voting stock.

Under certain circumstances, this provision will make it more difficult for a person who would be an “interested stockholder” to effect various business combinations with a corporation for a three-year period. This provision may encourage companies interested in acquiring our company to negotiate in advance with our board of directors because the stockholder approval requirement would be avoided if our board of directors approves either the business combination or the transaction which results in the stockholder becoming an interested stockholder. These provisions also may have the effect of preventing changes in our board of directors and may make it more difficult to accomplish transactions which stockholders may otherwise deem to be in their best interests.

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that the sponsor, its members and its other affiliates, any of its respective direct or indirect transferees who hold at least 15% of our outstanding common stock after such transfer and any group as to which such persons are party to, do not constitute “interested stockholders” for purposes of this provision. Our authorized but unissued common stock and preferred stock are available for future issuances without stockholder approval and could be utilized for a variety of corporate purposes, including future offerings to raise additional capital, acquisitions and employee benefit plans. The existence of authorized but unissued and unreserved common stock and preferred stock could render more difficult or discourage an attempt to obtain control of us by means of a proxy contest, tender offer, merger or otherwise.


Exclusive forum for certain lawsuits

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that, to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware will be the exclusive forum for any derivative action or proceeding brought on our behalf; any action asserting a breach of fiduciary duty; any action asserting a claim against us arising under the Delaware General Corporation Law, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation or our amended and restated bylaws; and any action asserting a claim against us or our directors, officers or employees that is governed by the internal affairs doctrine. This exclusive forum provision will not apply to suits brought to enforce any duty or liability created by the Exchange Act or any other claim for which the federal courts have exclusive jurisdiction.

Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation further provides that, to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, the federal district courts of the United States will be the exclusive forum for resolving any complaint asserting a cause of action arising under the Securities Act. The enforceability of similar exclusive federal forum provisions in other companies organizational documents has been challenged in legal proceedings, and while the Delaware Supreme Court and certain other state courts have ruled that this type of exclusive federal forum provision is facially valid under Delaware law, there is uncertainty as to whether other courts would enforce such provisions and that investors cannot waive compliance with the federal securities laws and the rules and regulations thereunder.

The foregoing provisions would not apply to suits brought to enforce a duty or liability created by the Exchange Act or any other claim for which the U.S. federal courts have exclusive jurisdiction. These exclusive forum provisions may limit a stockholders ability to bring a claim in a judicial forum that it finds favorable for disputes with us or our directors, officers or other employees, which may discourage such lawsuits against us and our directors, officers and other employees. Alternatively, if a court were to find either exclusive forum provision in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation to be inapplicable or unenforceable in an action, we may incur further significant additional costs associated with resolving such action in other jurisdictions, all of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, and results of operations.

Any person or entity purchasing or otherwise acquiring or holding any interest in any shares of our common stock shall be deemed to have notice of and consented to these exclusive forum provisions and will not be deemed to have waived our compliance with the federal securities laws and the regulations promulgated thereunder. See “Risk Factors—Risks Relating to Our Securities—Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides, to the fullest extent permitted by law, that the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware and the federal district courts of the United States are the exclusive forums for substantially all disputes between us and our stockholders, which could limit our stockholders’ ability to obtain a favorable judicial forum for disputes with us or our directors, officers or employees, and which may have the effect of discouraging lawsuits against our directors, officers or employees.”

Special meeting of stockholders

Our amended and restated bylaws provide that special meetings of our stockholders may be called only by a majority vote of our board of directors, by either our Chief Executive Officer or our Chairman.

Advance notice requirements for stockholder proposals and director nominations

Our amended and restated bylaws provide for advance notice procedures with respect to stockholder proposals and the nomination of candidates for election as directors, other than nominations made by or at the direction of our board of directors or a committee of our board of directors. In order for any matter to be “properly brought” before a meeting, a stockholder will have to comply with advance notice requirements and provide us with certain information. Generally, to be timely, a stockholder’s notice must be received at our principal executive offices not less than 90 days nor more than 120 days prior to the first anniversary date of the immediately preceding annual meeting of stockholders. Our amended and restated bylaws also specify requirements as to the form and content of a stockholder’s notice. Our amended and restated bylaws allow our board of directors or the chairman of the meeting at a meeting of the stockholders to adopt rules and regulations for the conduct of meetings, which may have the effect of precluding the conduct of certain business at a meeting if the rules and regulations are not followed. These provisions may also defer, delay or discourage a potential acquirer from conducting a solicitation of proxies to elect the acquirer’s own slate of directors or otherwise attempting to influence or obtain control of us.


Action by written consent

Subsequent to the consummation of the offering, any action required or permitted to be taken by our common stockholders must be effected by a duly called annual or special meeting of such stockholders and may not be effected by written consent of the stockholders, other than actions taken by the holders of shares of our Class B common stock.

Only holders of the Class B common stock vote to elect directors

Prior to our initial business combination, only holders of our Class B common stock will have the right to vote on the election of directors. Holders of our public shares will not be entitled to vote on the election of directors during such time. In addition, prior to the completion of an initial business combination, holders of a majority of our Class B common stock may remove a member of the board of directors for any reason.

Class B common stock consent right

For so long as any shares of Class B common stock remain outstanding, we may not, without the prior vote or written consent of the holders of a majority of the shares of Class B common stock then outstanding, voting separately as a single class, amend, alter or repeal any provision of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, whether by merger, consolidation or otherwise, if such amendment, alteration or repeal would alter or change the powers, preferences or relative, participating, optional or other or special rights of the Class B common stock. Any action required or permitted to be taken at any meeting of the holders of Class B common stock may be taken without a meeting, without prior notice and without a vote, if a consent or consents in writing, setting forth the action so taken, shall be signed by the holders of the outstanding Class B common stock having not less than the minimum number of votes that would be necessary to authorize or take such action at a meeting at which all shares of Class B common stock were present and voted.

Securities Eligible for Future Sale

As of March 15, 2022, 35,535,000 shares of Class A common stock are issued and outstanding on an as-converted basis. Of these shares, the 34,500,000 shares of Class A common stock sold in our initial public offering are freely tradable without restriction or further registration under the Securities Act, except for any shares of Class A common stock purchased by one of our affiliates within the meaning of Rule 144 under the Securities Act. All of the 8,625,000 outstanding shares of Class B common stock and all of the 1,035,000 private placement SCALE units including all of the shares of Class A common stock underlying the private placement SCALE units and the private placement warrants sold as part of the private placement SCALE units will be restricted securities under Rule 144, in that they were issued in private transactions not involving a public offering.

Rule 144

Pursuant to Rule 144, a person who has beneficially owned restricted shares of our common stock or warrants for at least six months would be entitled to sell their securities provided that (i) such person is not deemed to have been one of our affiliates at the time of, or at any time during the three months preceding, a sale and (ii) we are subject to the Exchange Act periodic reporting requirements for at least three months before the sale and have filed all required reports under Section 13 or 15(d) of the Exchange Act during the 12 months (or such shorter period as we were required to file reports) preceding the sale.


Persons who have beneficially owned restricted shares of our common stock or warrants for at least six months but who are our affiliates at the time of, or at any time during the three months preceding, a sale, would be subject to additional restrictions, by which such person would be entitled to sell within any three-month period only a number of securities that does not exceed the greater of:

 

   

1% of the total number of shares of Class A common stock then outstanding, which will equal 355,350 shares; or

 

   

the average weekly reported trading volume of the Class A common stock during the four calendar weeks preceding the filing of a notice on Form 144 with respect to the sale.

Sales by our affiliates under Rule 144 are also limited by manner of sale provisions and notice requirements and to the availability of current public information about us.

Restrictions on the Use of Rule 144 by Shell Companies or Former Shell Companies

Rule 144 is not available for the resale of securities initially issued by shell companies (other than business combination related shell companies) or issuers that have been at any time previously a shell company. However, Rule 144 also includes an important exception to this prohibition if the following conditions are met:

 

   

the issuer of the securities that was formerly a shell company has ceased to be a shell company;

 

   

the issuer of the securities is subject to the reporting requirements of Section 13 or 15(d) of the Exchange Act;

 

   

the issuer of the securities has filed all Exchange Act reports and materials required to be filed, as applicable, during the preceding 12 months (or such shorter period that the issuer was required to file such reports and materials), other than Current Reports on Form 8-K; and

 

   

at least one year has elapsed from the time that the issuer filed current Form 10 type information with the SEC reflecting its status as an entity that is not a shell company.

As a result, our sponsor will be able to sell its Class B common stock, private placement SCALE units and the securities underlying the foregoing pursuant to Rule 144 without registration one year after we have completed our initial business combination.

Registration and Stockholder Rights

The following holders will be entitled to registration rights pursuant to a registration and stockholder rights agreement entered into as of the closing date of our initial public offering: (1) holders of the Class B common stock (including any shares of Class A common stock issuable upon conversion of the Class B common stock); (2) holders of the private placement SCALE units, private placement shares or private placement warrants (including any shares of Class A common stock issuable upon the exercise of the private placement warrants); and (3) holders of any SCALE units to be issued upon conversion of working capital loans (including the warrants and shares of Class A common stock included in such SCALE units and the shares of Class A common stock issuable upon the exercise of such warrants). These holders will be entitled to make up to three demands, excluding short form registration demands, that we register such securities for sale under the Securities Act. In addition, these holders will have “piggy-back” registration rights to include their securities in other registration statements filed by us. However, the registration and stockholder rights agreement provides that we will not permit any registration statement filed under the Securities Act to become effective until termination of the applicable lock-up period. We will bear the expenses incurred in connection with the filing of any such registration statements.

In addition, following completion of our initial business combination, our sponsor will be entitled to designate three individuals for nomination for election to our board of directors.

Listing of Securities

Our SCALE units, Class A common stock and warrants are listed on Nasdaq under the symbols “NDACU,” “NDAC” and “NDACW,” respectively.